


The Undiscovered Country

by Lannakitty



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-31
Updated: 2010-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-14 06:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/146312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lannakitty/pseuds/Lannakitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry and Will discuss some of the Big Questions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Undiscovered Country

**Author's Note:**

> Title: The Undiscovered Country  
> Genre: Gen. Henry and Will friendship.  
> Spoilers: (Season 3) Post Firewall, perhaps a few days later.  
> Rating: pg-13  
> Notes: Odd fic that kinda hit me in one go back in October. Has sat on my HD since then. Wasn't sure it was anything, but said I should post it, so I am :)  
> Thinky thoughts and oversimplification of physics.  
> Pretentious title is pretentious. Apologies to Bill.  
> Summary: Henry and Will discuss some of the Big Questions.

_“For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.”_

Will found Henry in the model city. The tech sat on the floor where the lower of the two trains ran along a track. Henry held one index finger on the train and lifted it, allowing it to resume it’s path, then stopped it again. He did this several times as Will watched. Henry paused, his finger on the final car, then finally he lifted it. The train resumed its course, and disappeared at the edge of the projection near Will’s feet.

“Oh, hey,” Henry said, looking up at Will. “Need something?”

“Magnus wanted me to give you this before I went to bed,” Will said, holding out a stunner with some scorch marks on the stock. He carefully stepped over miniature buildings and walls, feeling a bit like godzilla. The thought was amusing.

Henry frowned, his nose wrinkling, as he reached for the weapon. “Smells like it got shorted out.”

Will handed it over and took in the man before him. The ever-present computer was set aside and his shoulders were hunched slightly, tense. He had the heavy look of a man who was doing a great deal of deep thinking. It was a stark contrast to when he’d been wandering around the model with kid-in-the-candy-store glee.

“You okay?” Will asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Henry said, smiling, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Will sat on the ground across the railroad from Henry, who sighed. The train returned and chugged along the rails between them. Henry looked up at Will for a second then set the gun aside. He rested his arms on his knees and watched the train roll by. Will waited, watching the little zeppelin float by overhead; Henry would talk when he had his thoughts in order.

“What was it like?” Henry asked at length.

Will let out a breath. He didn’t need to ask to what Henry was referring. He rubbed the back of his neck and watched the Zepplin make a lazy arc over the upper level of the city.

“Sorry,” Henry said, beginning to rise.

“No,” Will said, reaching a hand out. “I just need a minute to think.”

Henry settled down again. “Probably not the easiest thing to talk about. Look, you don’t have to say anything.”

“Maybe I should,” Will said, watching the train pass by again. “Being able to remember is- it helps.”

“Finally get some sleep, then huh?”

“Yeah.” Will folded his hands in his lap. He let out a long breath. “Not sure where I was, but it was kinda grand. Lots of light. Kinda felt charged I suppose? It could have been Kali and the other super abnormals though.”

“Do you think it was, I dunno, the afterlife or whatever?”

“I’ve been wrestling with that,” Will added, rubbing his hands together. He let out a breath. “I’ve decided I don’t know, and,” he paused, “and I think I’m okay with that.”

“Yeah?”

“Someday, a very long time in the hopefully distant future, I might find out. But I think I’m okay with not knowing for now.” Will frowned, turning his thoughts over in his mind. He’d been kept up before by the not knowing. With the memories he’d been able to sleep, finally. Yet, he’d been left with more questions by the experience, some more practical than others. He’d taken a day and examined the memories and had done some reading on what others said about the big questions in life. He’d digested that information over the past few days.

“It was peaceful,” Will said, reflecting on it. “Or more...harmonious I guess you could say. I suppose it fits with Magnus’ whole interconnectedness theory of Kali and whoever else those other super abnormals were.”

Henry bit his lip and looked away. Will gave him the moment. He suspected he knew where this was headed. He’d actually had a conversation like this with the big guy.

“I’ve been kinda, thinking,” Henry said. “About stuff. People. Things I don’t like to think about.”

“Death?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed a a hand over his eyes then across his cargo pants, leaving a faint, wet trail.

“So, I’ve been thinking and maybe, maybe it’s the case of a tech guy thinking everything looks like a tech solution.”

Will nodded, encouraging him to go on. Henry was a thoughtful guy, though his intellect was usually focused on technical matters. The focusing in and seeking answers was a form of shielding, but he was functional so Will had no cause for concern.

“I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff. Things that shouldn’t work.“ He lifted his eyebrows gestured to the city around them to prove his point.

Will chuckled and nodded.

“I’ve studied the theories behind physics and mechanics and programming and I know how that all works. And then you look at quantum mechanics and it all just...kinda breaks down into this strange area where you can look at a thing in several ways and get just as many answers, but the math all seems to work out.” He smiled a little, “and maybe I have to turn my geek card in, but when you get down to the real esoteric stuff it kinda begins to hurt my brain.”

“Well, you’re ahead of me then,” Will laughed. “I took physics for humanities students.”

Henry’s lips quirked up in a smile. “So the theory goes that the deeper we head down that rabbit hole, the more we find that stuff’s the same. Electricity and magnetism are electromagnetism. You take it a step further and you get the electroweak.”

“You’re talking about the Theory of Everything.”

“Well last time I watched Nova there was a step before that, but yeah. And there might not be an end because what else is there that we just don’t know about yet? So all this stuff is happening, somehow, under everything, and you extrapolate that up to the macro scale and you get your classic Newtonian physics.”

Will smiled. As Henry spoke, his voice seemed to get a bit stronger, losing the watery quality. He gestured with his hands, illustrating the points in a way that made sense to him and, well, Will got the general Idea. This hadn’t been the direction he’d expected the discussion to take.

“You take Newtonian physics and you take that macro. You start looking at planets and stars and solar systems galaxies and the universe. It’s simplifying it down and my physics professors would be rolling their eyes, but just go with it.”

“I promise I won’t tell any of your former professors you’re oversimplifying,” Will said solemnly, holding up a hand, the other on his heart.

Henry chuckled. “So we know all this stuff, and we know it’s related and we don’t exactly know how. Yet. And we’re all made of the same components down to the subatomic level, and the difference is when and how it’s all put together...But it’s,” he let out a long breath, looking for the words. “It’s corny but we’re star stuff.”

“So are you quoting Sagan or Delenn?”

“And- wait dude, you watched B5?” Henry held up a hand. “We’ll get back to that. So, into all this I see Druitt bamfing around the planet, and it should be impossible, but he does it. Hell, he’s dragged me around. I’ve been teleported. And then there is this giant honking sea spider who not only likes bollywood, but can generate these massive EM fields and speak to people just about to cross over. Or, you know, crossed.”

Will nodded. “I’m with you.”

“So, for all intents and purposes you were dead, but somehow you managed to get into this space where you saw what you did, where you remembered it. Stuff should not have been working but I have a mechanical spider in lockdown that proves otherwise. Clearly we don’t know everything about everything. But we’ve got a good idea it’s all connected.”

Henry grimaced and the animated hands fell to his lap. He looked up and watched the dirigible float overhead. “What’d the one guy say to you? He respected that you put aside your own life for others?”

“Yeah. That seemed to carry some weight with both avatars actually. It, uh, you know, if that’s the kind of thing they can appreciate, it kinda gives me hope if we should meet them again? I mean, we might not always be that lucky, but if something that powerful can recognize just one act of sacrifice, then maybe we’re not just little ants they can crush? Maybe we can start a dialog, even learn something.” He shrugged then added, “Maybe it’s the right way to live.”

“You see anyone else you knew there?”

Will closed his eyes and shook his head. “I only recognized Gregory.”

Henry’s laugh was short, rueful. “Had to ask. She...She walked into that fire so no one else would be hurt. It’s stupid to wish one of the big guns noticed and nabbed her for his entourage, but,” he trailed off and shrugged a shoulder. The train came by and he stopped it with a finger.

“We’re really complex computers when you get down to it. Made of the same stuff, mostly in the same way and yet you’re you and I’m me.” He let the train progress a little more before stopping it. “How energy is moved, stored and processed makes us different. It’s all the same building material and we’re not even sure how it goes together at a sub-atomic level. But you can’t get rid of it, just transform it.” Henry shrugged.

Henry lifted his finger and let the train go. “It’s not just Ash. It’s my parents, and Watson, and the the last tech guy, Ben, and all the other people I know. And I’ve just been thinking about how maybe that...energy pattern of who a person is or soul or whatever you want to call it, maybe it just transforms.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “And maybe, since we’re all connected, they might know what I’ve done with my life?”

Will let out a breath. “That’s a comforting thought.”

“I had some professors who really hated when anyone ever brought that up. Said it was the worst kind of pseudoscience, wasn’t anything to prove it, didn’t belong in science. It always bothered me more that they thought they knew all for sure. Stupid, I know. I’m not the one with a PhD.”

“I don’t know,” Will said. “No one does. You’re right though. There is a lot going on in the universe, and if I might be so egotistical as to comment on one of life’s great questions, I can’t say I find anything terribly wrong with what you’ve been thinking, Henry. I saw something. That seems to imply that things are a lot more complex than maybe we can understand in one lifetime.”

Henry nodded. “Thanks for letting me ramble.”

Will spread his hands. “Hey. As a professional or as a friend, I’m here.”

“Thanks all the same, Will.” Henry let out a slightly shuddering breath. “I think I need a scotch.”

“Come on,” Will said, getting to his feet and offering a hand up. “I’ll buy the first round.”

Henry deactivated the projected city and the vision faded away, leaving the library feeling empty, cavernous and lifeless. Henry stepped around the table, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“So you watched B5?”

“It was my Thursday night study break,” Will smiled. “Roomie got me hooked while I was working on my dissertation.”

“No kidding.”

“No kidding. Hey, let’s see if Biggie wants to go out.”

Henry smiled and pulled out his cell. “I’ll give him a call.”

Will nodded and turned back to eye the device on the table amid the books and other research materials Magnus had unshelved. So many questions and so few answers, all of which led to more questions...He could deal with that. Life, he supposed, would be kinda boring if he already knew.

“Hey,” Henry smacked his shoulder. “Biggie votes for Hannigans.”

Will grinned. “I’m buying.”


End file.
